Reflect

How much is your integrity worth?

Would you betray a friend for twenty thousand dollars?

Why do we seem to compromise our values so quickly for money?

#5 – Condemned by Pilate

Part 1

Action:

Listen to the crowd shouting as you read the story below.

Buy the mp3 File.

Read:

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”  “You have said so,” Jesus replied.  When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.  Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.  While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”  But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.  “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered.  “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. (Matthew 27:11-26)

Part 2

Reflect:

What was it like listening to the crowd?  Were you annoyed?  Can you sympathize with Pilate wanting to just give in?

In what ways do we give in and take the easy and lazy road even if it means being part of injustice?

Action:

As you leave – stop at the door and ‘wash your hands’ in the basin.  Think of the areas in your life where you act like Pilate – and participate in injustice because it’s easier than fighting for what is right.

#6 – Denied By Peter

Read:

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75)

Reflect:

Sometimes our betrayal is not motivated by financial gain but rather social acceptance…

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyles… that is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.  (Brennan Manning)

Think of times you have denied Jesus with your words, actions, or non-action.

 Action

Write down the phrase “I Do Not Know Him” on a piece of paper or on a note on your phone as a symbol of the times you,  like Peter, have denied Christ.

#7 – Whipped & Mocked

Read:

But he (Pilate) had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. (Matthew 27:26)

Play the mp3 and listen to the sound of the whip

Buy the Whip mp3 here.

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. (Matthew 27:27-31a)

Action:

Take the red felt marker and strike the loose part of the clothing hanging from the cross to make a red mark.

Reflect:

Some deaths are quick.

Some deaths are noble.

This death was neither.

It’s one thing to kill a man

It’s another to shame and humiliate him.

Think for a second…

That the King of heaven has spit on his face.

O the divine disgrace of our Saviour.

 

#8 – Nailed To The Cross

 

Action:

Grab a hammer and drive in one nail.

Read

“When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:33-34)

Reflect

Jesus’ talked a lot about loving enemies and forgiving others.

But here at the cross he goes beyond words and ideals and teaches us with an example

With the nail digging into his flesh and the hammer hovering…

He offers forgiveness

So in your life, who are the soldiers with nails and hammers that you could extend forgiveness to?

#9 – It Is Finished

Read:

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.  (Luke 23:44-49)

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.   (John 19:28-30)

Reflect:

Spend some time imagining you are standing in front of the cross with the disciples…

Can you feel the presence of death?

Can you feel the heaviness of despair?

Can you feel the sorrow, emptiness, and confusion?

Can you feel the darkness…

Action:

Extinguish one candle as a symbol of Jesus dying.

(Additional Option)

You can also play the video “When I Survey… (Minor Key Version)” as part of your Stations of the Cross.

$17.99 – Add To Cart Checkout Added to cart

You can also play the video “Were You There – Good Friday Version” as part of your Stations of the Cross.

$17.99 – Purchase Video Checkout Added to cart

#10 – Buried In A Tomb

Read:

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. (John 19:38-41)

Reflect:

Try to imagine the emotion of the disciples as Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb.

What’s it like to go to the funeral of the one you thought would save – the one you thought would be the Messiah?

——————– Poem by Cheryl Laurie —————-

John 16:7. “But I tell you that I am going to do what is best for you. That is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone I will send the Spirit to you.”

You think this is what’s best for us?
They humiliated you on a cross.
And we’re humiliated too, because we put our trust in you.
No wonder Peter denied you.
Maybe it wasn’t out of fear, but out of sheer, bloody rage
that this is how the dream ended.
How can you think this is what’s best for us?
We put everything we had into you.
Our trust.

Our belief that you were the one who could save us.
You offered us a taste of welcome,
a hint of grace,
a touch of freedom.
For a moment we glimpsed a new world,
and you promised an eternity of that.
And we trusted you.
We’re left wondering which is worse
– that it ended like this
or that you knew it would end like this
and you took us with you anyway.

Action

The death of Jesus shattered every belief his followers had about who God should be.
Think of the beliefs you have about God that the cross forces you to confront…

#11 – Letting Go

Watch:

Reflect:

Let the rock in your hand symbolize every sinful attitude and action

Let the rock in your hand symbolize all that you wish you weren’t

Let the rock in your hand symbolize the shadow within

Let the rock in your hand symbolize the brokenness you have experienced

Let the rock in your hand symbolize the brokenness you have caused

Action:

Go to the buckets of water and drop the rock in the water and let your sin die with Christ.

Read:

If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

^6-11 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

^12-14 That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.

#12 – Communion

Reflect:

Stand here at the table of the Last Supper…

Here is where it all started with bread and cup and a promise.

This bread and this cup is about that body and that blood.

This bread and this cup…

is about a new covenant between God and you

is about righteousness given not earned

is about God fixing the sin problem once and for all

This bread and this cup…

is about how He ‘So Loved The World’

is about his faithful forgiveness

is about his reckless grace

This bread and this cup…

is about no more condemnation

 is about remembering – your sins are forgiven

This bread and this cup…

is about how everything is now moving towards how it’s supposed to be

Read:

 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.  

Optional Video – “Last Supper”

Action:

Take the bread and eat, take the cup and drink.

Then fill in your name on the sticky note and place it on the wall beside the cross.  “My name is ________________ and my sins are forgiven.”

Take a deep breath and finish this experience with the phrase, “It is finished….”